"What a great book! This book is a very practical tool to help form teenage boys into great men of God! If you are a man and you deal with teenage boys you NEED this book. I highly recommend it!"
Fr. Larry Richards
Author of Be A Man!
"Mentoring, or apprenticing is an essential, but forgotten form of learning "the do" of discipleship. Fr. Matthew offers a wonderful primer, packed with relevant information to help the Church rediscover this essential practice."
Frank Mercadante
Executive Director of Cultivation Ministries
"Fr Matthew has always been one of the clearest thinkers I've known regarding youth ministry. I am happy to have him on my team. Spiritual Mentoring is an important aspect of the Conquest youth ministry program, but so far it has been very difficult to train men in this unique methodology. Fr Schneider has demonstrated skill in spiritual mentoring and I hope this book can help inspire men to truly lead boys spirituality closer to God."
Todd Brechbill
Conquest National Director
"Father Matthew Schneider has great experience and insight into personally motivating and mentoring teenage boys."
Don Conklin
Owner of K4J
"Father Matthew has the ability to tackle important church issues and write about them in a way that is engaging, thoughtful, and challenging. His love for the Catholic faith is evident in his writing as his desire that young people know Christ."
Clayton Immo
Director of Youth Ministry, Archdiocese of Vancouver
"Experiencing personal, unconditional, friendly, and demanding accompaniment is essential for the growth of teenagers - in order to bring them to Christ. Fr Matthew understands teenagers and what is needed to accompany them well."
Sonia González
Director of the Center for Studies on Adolescence and Youth at Francisco de Vitoria University, Madrid
The goal of Catholic youth ministry is that teens experience Christ. Experiencing Christ is always personal. Even when an individual among the million at World Youth Day experiences Christ, the experience is still personal. Faith is always personal. Personal accompaniment offers a way to guide a teen towards such a personal experience. Spiritually Mentoring Teenage Boys is the first book explaining how to accompany teens spiritually.
The evidence shows that those teens who are mentored stick to their faith at a much higher rate than those who aren't. The personal interest adults have in teens and the depth of conversation with those teens seems to be the number one factor for keeping their faith. Just having teens show up or helping them as a group is no longer adequate - it doesn't keep teens Catholic. If we want teens to grow in their faith, or even just remain Catholic, spiritual mentoring is essential.
In this book you will learn:
-The changes teens go through and how to respond
-The structure of the spiritual life for teens
-The role of the Holy Spirit
-A practical outline for mentoring
-10 principles of pedagogy
-4 areas of formation
-Vocational discernment
-Depth-confidence
-Making a rule of life
About the Author: Fr Matthew P. Schneider graduated high school thinking of supporting a big family by designing computers, but God called him to be a religious and priest. He has directed youth ministry (groups, retreats, camps, and missions) in seven states and three Canadian provinces. His studies include Engineering, Religious Studies, Classical Humanities, Philosophy, Theology, and specific studies regarding youth ministry. Since 2001 he has been a member of the Legionaries of Christ. Since 2007 he has been part of the product development team for Conquest Clubs and has written a significant portion of their material. He was ordained a priest in December 2013. He can be found in running around Canada or writing for ProjectYM.com on his channel #22Catholic. His writing has been featured on New Advent, BigPulpit.com, Catholic.net, Ignitium Today, Regnum Christi Live, CatholicismUSA, Spirit Daily, and Shalom Tidings. He is very active on social media using the handle @FrMatthewLC.
